Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Family left enraged, bewildered by Edmonton officials’ decision not to stop train during deadly beating

HandoutJohn Hollar was beaten savagely on an Edmonton train Sunday. He later died from his injuries.

For a full six minutes, John “Jonny” Hollar was beaten on a
northbound LRT train in Edmonton — pounded unconscious before the eyes
of more than a dozen fellow travellers. From the front of the train, the
LRT operators watched the beating through a closed-circuit surveillance
camera and were forced to think on their feet: Would they keep the
doors open at Belvedere station, in hopes the attacker would stop the
assault and face eventual capture? Or would they seal the car doors and
continue on to Clareview Station, where police and ambulance would be
more readily available?
They chose the latter. By the time the train stopped around 1:50 p.m. on Friday, Mr. Hollar was close to death.

He was put on life support but he succumbed to severe brain injuries just after 11 p.m. Sunday.
After an autopsy the next day, Edmonton police declared the assault a
homicide and announced murder charges against the alleged assailant.

On Tuesday, Mr. Hollar’s uncle expressed the family’s rage and
bewilderment in the face of their loss. He said he was “disgusted” by
the Edmonton Transit officials’ decision that afternoon. Had they
stopped and physically intervened at Belvedere station, he said, maybe
his 29-year-old nephew would still be alive.

“I don’t believe that the train should have continued from that station onward,” Russell Hollar said in an interview with the National Post.
“I think they should have left the train right at that station, the
driver should have got up and made some kind of attempt himself [to stop
the fight]…. He would have at least [had] a chance.”

What’s more important? Worrying about catching their guy or worrying about saving somebody’s life?

Mr. Hollar lives in Saskatchewan but had been visiting family in
Edmonton for the Christmas holidays when the attack involving his nephew
occurred. In the days since the LRT beating, he has been trying to make
sense of the LRT operators’ decision-making process. “If you’re
unconscious and someone’s continuing to beat on you for another four or
five minutes down the road while the driver’s driving, to be
continuously watching on video, somebody doing this … I just don’t think
it’s right,” he said.

Two other passengers tried to intervene, Edmonton police detective Colin Derksen said, though he declined to elaborate. The Edmonton Journal
reported Monday that the beating continued even after the train driver
used the public address system to warn that police were en route, and
other passengers made emergency calls to alert the driver to the
violence.

The attack and the subsequent decision-making over how and if someone
should help a person in distress brings to mind the heated debate last
month over whether a New York Post photographer should have
dropped his camera and attempt to rescue a man who had been pushed in
the path of an oncoming subway train (a photo of the man’s last moments
ran on the tabloid’s front page the next day). The bystander effect of
failing to help someone in trouble in a crowded place because it’s
believed someone else will help instead, was discussed over and again.
Police will often tell witnesses of a crime to call for help rather than
risk injury or worse by getting physically involved themselves.

He would have at least [had] a chance

On Monday, Edmonton Transit System’s security chief Ron Gabruck said a
decision was made by ETS control dispatchers to continue driving
another three minutes to Clareview Station, which would give better
access to police and medical first responders. Upon arrival, the accused
fled the LRT car, which was then empty but for the unconscious Mr.
Hollar. Police arrested him nearby.

Mr. Gabruck said it is the first death on an Edmonton LRT in the transit system’s 34-year-history.
His uncle believes the prolonged train ride to Clareview just gave
the assailant more of a chance to continually beat someone who was
already unconscious.

“What’s more important? Worrying about catching their guy or worrying
about saving somebody’s life?” he asked, adding that the surveillance
video would have aided in the police investigation. “They seem to be
more worried about catching the guy than saving somebody’s life. You
always save somebody’s life first, you worry about catching that guy
later.”

Mr. Gabruck, the only person the transit authority said could speak
publicly to this case, was not immediately available to address Mr.
Hollar’s concerns Tuesday.

Jeremy Newborn, 29, has been charged with aggravated assault and that
charge will be formally upgraded to second-degree murder at Mr.
Newborn’s next court appearance on Jan. 14. He’ll remain in custody
until then.

Det. Derksen said the two men appeared to know each other, that it
was seemingly unprovoked and Mr. Hollar the clear target, but officers
are still working on a motive. Mr. Hollar said he did not know where his
nephew —born and raised in Edmonton and survived by a brother and two
sisters — was going that day. He plans to put his concerns in a letter
to the Edmonton Transit System’s top brass.

National Post, with files from the Edmonton Journal and The Canadian Press